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Archive for May, 2008

GABORONE – Government has introduced new measures to curb the increasing misuse of government vehicles.

A savingram from the Permanent Secretary to the President, Mr Eric Molale, says regular roadblocks would be mounted targeting government vehicles at strategic locations. Where necessary, the savingram says vehicles will be impounded if there is evidence of abuse.

The Central Transport Organization (CTO) and local authorities are required to strengthen their fleet inspectorate and where possible create synergies.

The CTO drivers License will be withdrawn where there is evidence of continued misuse and abuse and toll free lines will be created where abuse can be reported with ease by members of the public. Accounting officers are instructed to start receiving and scrutinising fleet utilisation logs.

This review will include assessing whether fuel usage is commensurate with the submitted vehicle utilisation logs.

PARIS: Once again, Zimbabwe is readying itself for what passes for an election – a runoff after the presidential vote in March in which the opposition claimed victory, only to see its hopes of triumph founder in a quagmire of maneuvering and duplicity.

Once again, President Robert Mugabe is assailing his adversaries as the tools of imperialism; once again, his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai is projecting himself as the exclusive agent of renewal and change.

But this time, the regional backdrop to the run-off, set for June 27, has emerged in sharper focus, demonstrating not so much the influence of Zimbabwe’s neighbors as their impotence. In South Africa, in particular, a failed policy on Zimbabwe may be about to cost President Thabo Mbeki his last hope of a legacy, if not the remains of his political career.

Mbeki must now live with the consequences of what he has called the “quiet diplomacy” that, his critics assert, has merely permitted Mugabe to [continue reading]

The takeover master in the publicly trading construction sector, Olympia Capital Corporation (OCC), says it is eyeing another acquisition in Cape Town, South Africa, which is expected to make its shareholders smile, as it will not ask them to part with any thebe.

The Chief Executive Officer of the company, Michael Matu, says the acquisition of the unnamed concern, which is in the manufacturing industry in South Africa, is in the final stages of completion.

“This acquisition will be totally funded by debt, internal resources and an advance from our parent company, Olympia Capital Holdings Limited, which is quoted in the main board (of the) Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) and has a successful US$6.8 million (about P43.8 million) rights issue in late 2007,” explained Matu.

Speaking at the prize giving ceremony of the BOCCIM Northern Trade Fair, Mr Motswaiso said through the corporations value of excellence, its planning, operations and execution would be geared towards creating legendary customer experience that would be unparalleled.

We will continuously find new and better ways to achieve our goals, goals which will from time to time be motivated by the inspiration to create a positive customer experience, he said. We know that for as long as our products and services are still high in the priority list of the nation, we will continue to be criticised, and all [continue reading]

Robert Mugabe will not step down as President, even if he loses to Morgan Tsvangirai in the June 27 presidential run-off election, Mugabe’s wife Grace claimed on Thursday. Accompanying Mugabe on a rather cynical tour of victims of political violence in rural Shamva, Grace confirmed what a lot of Zimbabweans suspect, that Mugabe will never concede defeat. She boasted; ‘Even if people vote for the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai will never step foot inside State House. He will only get to hear about what it looks like inside State House from people who have been there. Even if Baba (Mugabe) loses, he will only leave State House to make way for someone from ZANU-PF’.

Mugabe and his wife visited a homestead allegedly burned down by MDC supporters. ‘What we saw really touched us. We are not animals but humans. If you burn down someone’s house you want to destroy their life,’ the Zanu PF leader said. This is despite his regime unleashing a terror campaign countrywide that has claimed the lives of 50 MDC activists and influential party officials, and has been responsible for burning down thousands of MDC supporters homes in villages. The violence immediately followed Zanu PF and Mugabe’s defeat in the March 29 election. Claims by Mugabe that [continue reading]

There will be no general amnesty for undocumented foreign nationals in South Africa, the government has confirmed.

However, it is considering a temporary deportation amnesty for the tens of thousands displaced by the violence of the past two weeks.

Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has rebuffed calls by some – including retired ANC stalwart Kader Asmal – for a general amnesty to allow illegal immigrants to come forward and be registered without risking deportation.

A similar process was undertaken in 1996 after the Cabinet declared an amnesty period for undocumented immigrants. During this time, more than 1.6 million foreigners were registered and given permanent residence status in South Africa.

Johannesburg – Zimbabwe’s government has sent 10 buses and trucks to South Africa to take home Zimbabweans wanting to leave the country over a recent spate of xenophobic violence, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to South Africa Simon Khaya Moyo said on Friday.

Speaking to South Africa’s SAfm radio, Moyo also reiterated his government’s earlier commitment to give land to the returning Zimbabweans.

Asked where the land would be found Moyo said there was still plenty of land to be “resettled.”

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government has evicted around 4 000 white farmers from their land since 2000, mostly without compensation. The land has [continue reading]

GABORONE – The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and other investigatory committees need to be empowered to diligently assist Parliament in its oversight mandate.

Speaking at an orientation workshop for members of the Public Accounts Committee, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Patrick Balopi said the committee faced challenges that needed urgent attention.

Mr Balopi said the current one-year term of office for committee members hampered their delivery and denied them an opportunity to be experts in committees.

He said due to the magnitude of work of the committee, its members needed to benchmark and acquire skills on accounting so as to make informed contributions.

He said if the Parliament was to effectively perform its oversight role, there was need to assure that [continue reading]

Mfa Puts Pressure on Councils.The Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Local Government, Mr. Oliphant Mfa, says public officers who authorize the payment of poorly implemented, or unfinished projects, may be required to refund government the money.

In an interview with The Gazette, Mfa said poor implementation of projects, or lack thereof, was the most frequent complaint as he continues to do the rounds addressing full Council meetings around the country.
He said government was determined to have an efficient system that will ensure good coordination in the implementation of projects. He promised better services and an accountable public service at local government level.

“Councilors told me that sometimes the delay in implementation is caused by disjointed relations with council officers. There are poor links between the politicians and civil servants; this will be addressed as of now,” he said.

He said councilors complained that they are sometimes not properly consulted on projects while in some instances officials are slow to act on [continue reading]

PLUMTREE: Tati East Constituency Member of Parliament, Samson Moyo Guma and Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to Botswana, Thomas Mandigora on Monday this week toured the Ramokgwebana and Plumtree border posts.

Guma, who is also the Assistant Minister of Finance, and Mandigora, first toured the Plumtree Border Post on the Zimbabwean side and later went to the Ramokgwebana Border Post.

After their tours, they held a meeting with officials from both border posts. Batswana officials told Guma, whose constituency also covers Ramokgwebana, that they were operating under difficult conditions, a situation that has lowered their morale.

One official said the border post, one of Botswana’s busiest, was understaffed.
Explaining why some Zimbabweans visiting Botswana sometimes spend nights in no-man’s-land after being cleared by officials at Plumtree Border Post, the official said most buses from Bulawayo heading to Francistown often arrive just before the closure of the border post at 10pm.

The Department of Trade and Industry is working closely with state-owned enterprises to help build the competitiveness of South African suppliers, in an effort to ensure they take full advantage of the country’s massive infrastructure spending programme currently underway.

This comes at a time when many sectors in the economy – following strong growth in manufacturing last year – are operating at near full capacity, thus pushing up the level of imports and impacting negatively on the country’s current account deficit.

Addressing members of Parliament this week, Trade and Industry Minister Mandisi Mpahlwa outlined several interventions undertaken by the government to provide support to certain sectors of the economy, ranging from technology support and [continue reading]

Members of the parliamentary health committee were over the weekend on tour of the Vumbura camp in the Okavango Delta managed by Okavango Wilderness Safaris.

They acquainted themselves with proposed and existing programmes and projects at government, private and non-governmental organisations relating to health issues.
They are also out to familiarise themselves with policies and laws that govern health care systems while at the same time interacting with communities to know what is happening around them.

The four member committee that toured the delta included committee chairman, Kgatleng West MP Rakwadi Modipane, MP’s Vister Moruti, Mmoloki Raletobana, Filbert Nagafela of Okavango, Kweneng South East and Letlhakeng West constituencies respectively.

The landmark application brought before the SADC Tribunal in Windhoek by Zimbabwean commercial farmers was due to be heard at the Supreme Court in Windhoek, Namibia, on Wednesday. But, once again, the government of Zimbabwe delayed the hearing by asking for more time to prepare their documents. Advocate Adrian De Bourbon, who is representing a group of 77 white farmers challenging eviction laws in Zimbabwe, said the Zimbabwe authorities promised not to evict the farmers or prosecute them at home until the next hearing, now set for July 16.

De-Bourbon said he believed the Zimbabwe government had been given ample time to prepare. The other legal counsel on the case, Jeremy Gauntlett, reportedly told the Tribunal this was a “delaying tactic and the oldest forensic trick in the book”. Asked if he suspected any outside interference, De-Bourbon said he had no suspicion of political pressure on the Tribunal.

The original case was brought by Chegutu farmer Michael Campbell, on behalf of himself, his farm workers and their families who live and [continue reading]

source: allAfrica
Published by the government of Zimbabwe
The Herald (Harare)

29 May 2008
Posted to the web 29 May 2008
Sydney Kawadza
Harare

The SADC Tribunal yesterday postponed to July 16 the hearing of a case in which 78 white former commercial farmers are seeking to stop the compulsory acquisition of their farms for resettlement in Zimbabwe.

The tribunal also reserved judgment in an application in which more than 300 000 beneficiaries of the same land reform programme are seeking to be part of the hearing.

The tribunal deferred the case to July after granting the Zimbabwean Government’s legal team an extension to file their arguments.